US Shale Firms Pledge $100 Million to Support Local Health Care, Education, Infrastructure

A water pool attached to Robinson Drilling rig No. 4 in Midland County, Texas. Ken Medlock, director of an energy-studies program at Rice University in Houston, says an assessment on Nov. 15, 2016, by the U.S. Geological Survey that the Wolfcamp Shale in the Midland region could yield 20 billion barrels of oil is another sign that "the revival of the Permian Basin is going to last a couple of decades." James Durbin/Reporter-Telegram via AP

HOUSTON—More than a dozen top U.S. energy companies have pledged $100 million toward easing stresses on health care, education, and civic infrastructure from the shale oil and gas boom in West Texas and New Mexico, the group said on Nov. 18.

Chevron, EOG Resources, Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell are among 17 companies backing the Permian Strategic Partnership, as the consortium is called, Don Evans, a former U.S. government official and energy executive helping launch the group, told Reuters on Nov. 17.